Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 65

Jeong Taeui, who was about to carry Christoph to the car, turned around at the sound of his name being called from behind him. Slowly, pronouncing Jeong Taeui’s name clearly, it was Richard. However, he didn’t seem to have called Jeong Taeui for any particular reason. After briefly scanning Jeong Taeui, Richard’s gaze soon turned to Ilay. Richard slowly smiled at Ilay, who was looking at them nonchalantly with a displeased, yet composed, expression.

‘Indeed, I see.’

‘…’

Ilay, who had been silent for a moment at Richard’s subtle words, also let out a faint chuckle. So what? It was a cold and arrogant smile, as if saying just that.

Richard shrugged slightly. Then, he turned his gaze from Jeong Taeui, who was carrying Christoph, to Christoph, who was already sprawled out like a corpse.

‘That guy already knew, didn’t he?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘If he wanted it without knowing, it’s pitiful. If he wanted it knowing, it’s foolish. ……Ha.’

Richard snorted softly. At that short laugh, which seemed highly amused, Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue bitterly.

Richard was consistently polite and courteous. Earlier at the shop, when everyone considered Jeong Taeui Christoph’s ally and treated him fiercely, only Richard maintained his polite demeanor. And probably always will. To everyone, just like that.

Yet, he intensely disliked Christoph. It was oddly blatant, beyond mere wonder, considering his usual appearance and personality.

If he had such a personality, it would be more fitting for him to treat others calmly and kindly, then coldly cut them off.

“……Well, if you put it that way, you, who are indifferent to everyone, really dislike that guy too.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled to himself, looking at the sleeping Christoph.

His face, peeking out from under the blanket, was still breathtakingly beautiful, but if he were to lift the blanket, bandages would be wrapped around various parts of his body.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and was about to pull the curtain slightly to block the sunlight that had stretched long and deep into the room.

When he pulled the curtain about a span and turned back, Christoph had opened his eyes. The moment he turned, his clear, sapphire-blue eyes met his.

“Gasp……!”

Jeong Taeui flinched, his shoulders hunching in surprise, as if a porcelain doll had suddenly opened its eyes, and stared at Christoph.

“……You’re awake? How’s your body?”

A beat later, Jeong Taeui spoke, gently stroking his chest.

Ah, he was truly startled for a moment. Perhaps because he looked like a sculpture, it was even more surprising as if a porcelain doll had really opened its eyes. It was a good thing it was daytime; if it had been late evening, his heart might have stopped…….

Jeong Taeui, who had lightly patted his chest and sat back down in the chair beside the bed, soon realized.

Christoph, with his eyes open, wasn’t looking at Jeong Taeui. His gaze was fixed somewhere in the air. Seeing nothing.

“……Chris?”

Blink. He blinked his eyes once, his long eyelashes rustling. Only then did his pupils turn towards Jeong Taeui.

Even though he was looking at Jeong Taeui, Christoph said nothing. Jeong Taeui faced him, who was just staring blankly as if he were an idiot, and quietly asked.

“Does it hurt?”

After a moment more of silence, Christoph opened his mouth with a hoarse voice.

“My head hurts……. My ears are ringing.”

He heard a mumbled “It’s noisy” from him.

Jeong Taeui glanced at the tube connected under the blanket. Even though it should have contained painkillers, Christoph was frowning and asking for medicine.

Christoph, who was trying to sit up, frowned even more. He didn’t groan, but a brief flash of pain crossed his expression. However, even before the pain, he looked at the needle of the tube stuck in his wrist with annoyance and grumbled irritably.

“What is this…….”

“Don’t you remember yesterday?”

Jeong Taeui asked Christoph, who was muttering as if he didn’t know why such a thing was attached to his body. Christoph raised an eyebrow, looked at Jeong Taeui, and blinked a few times. His gaze, still slightly dazed as if he hadn’t fully woken up, seemed to be recalling memories. Then, slowly, he nodded, saying, “Oh.”

“I remember……. I fell into the river…….”

Coming out of the river…… Christoph, with a sullen face, tilted his head slightly and recalled each memory one by one, but it seemed his memories weren’t clear.

Indeed, after losing so much blood, it was no wonder his head was fuzzy. It wouldn’t be strange if he had exhausted all his energy just to stand on two feet.

Jeong Taeui sighed, watching Christoph slowly tilt his head and grimace as if recalling something from months ago.

Anyway, he seemed fine. Although his body was somewhat restricted, seeing him wake up and move without any serious issues made him feel much more at ease.

Thinking about it, even if the atmosphere was like sitting on pins and needles, this guy wasn’t the type to fidget and worry so much, so if he was fine, then it was fine.

‘I’m going to leave soon anyway,’ Jeong Taeui was reassuring himself when he suddenly saw Christoph clench his fist and looked up, saying, “Oh.”

Then he flinched and recoiled.

Christoph was glaring at his fist with a fierce, chilling look. His pale, expressionless face instantly flushed with terrifying anger.

“……What’s wrong?”

Jeong Taeui asked, pushing his chair back a couple of spans.

The Christoph who had been somewhat annoyed but indifferent and casually tilting his head just moments ago was gone, and in his place was a Christoph who looked ready to snap someone’s neck at any moment.

“Richard……, I’ll kill him.”

The sound of grinding teeth was mixed in his voice.

As always, Jeong Taeui recoiled another span at that chilling voice, which contained undeniable truth.

“Are you still not over it…? Richard looked like he’d be wrapped in bandages for a while too, why don’t you just consider it even?”

It was when Jeong Taeui hesitantly spoke to Christoph, who looked ready to rush out and rampage after Richard.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Christoph’s face turned pale.

“……I feel like throwing up.”

As soon as he mumbled that, Christoph covered his mouth, from which a strange groan escaped. Jeong Taeui hurriedly grabbed a nearby trash can and held it out. As soon as Christoph almost snatched the trash can, he began to retch with painful and nauseating groans.

He retched for a long time as if to empty everything inside him, and just when it seemed to subside, he would grab the trash can again and painfully heave several times. Jeong Taeui frowned, patting Christoph’s back as he continued to retch intermittently even though there was nothing left.

Was there something wrong with the medicine? He looked fine, but was he actually not? Why was he suddenly so nauseous and in pain?

Jeong Taeui was seriously considering whether it would be better to go out and call a doctor, and just as he turned to leave, Christoph, whose veins were visibly blue on his hand, tightly gripped Jeong Taeui’s sleeve and mumbled hoarsely, still bowing his head towards the trash can.

“Water…… towel.”

“Oh, just a moment.”

He seemed to have calmed down a little. It was a bit unsettling, as he had retched several times again just before this, but Jeong Taeui quickly went to the bathroom and brought a towel soaked in water. He also offered a glass of water to Christoph, who was leaning against the headboard, silently wiping his mouth with the towel.

Even after rinsing his mouth, Christoph occasionally held his breath for a while, still feeling unwell. After quite some time, he finally put down the water glass and let out an annoyed sigh.

During that time, he stared into space with eyes that gleamed like blue flames, and then he opened his mouth, as if to himself.

“Richard, that murderous…….”

But then he stopped speaking and clamped his mouth shut. He covered his mouth with his hand again, as if nausea was rising.

Jeong Taeui looked at Christoph with a mix of worry and suspicion.

It was a well-known fact that Christoph disliked Richard, but now it was exceptionally intense. Had he perhaps dreamed of meeting his sworn enemy on a narrow bridge right before waking up?

Thinking that, Jeong Taeui suddenly realized.

Jeong Taeui didn’t know how much they had fought after falling into the river.

After they jumped out of the car, Jeong Taeui was too busy with a fierce chase that even felt life-threatening to think of anything else. Then, when he finally returned to that spot to retrieve them, Richard had appeared, carrying the unconscious Christoph, looking as if they had just been through a fierce struggle.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head.

“Why? Did Richard stab you in the back after saying he wanted to make up?”

He didn’t think so, but he asked anyway to understand this unusual anger.

Then Christoph suddenly clammed up like a clam. His eyes slowly reddened. His sapphire-blue eyes grew even shinier.

Jeong Taeui flinched and recoiled.

Surely he wasn’t crying. No, he must be angry. He looked like he was so furious he didn’t know what to do and wanted to burst into tears.

He just thought they had a bad fight, but it suddenly became unusual.

“……. What’s wrong…….”

As Jeong Taeui subtly asked, observing Christoph’s mood, Christoph, who was breathing roughly with rising indignation, gritted his teeth. Without looking at Jeong Taeui, he clutched the innocent blanket and glared as if to kill, then, after a long moment of gasping for breath, he ground his teeth and mumbled.

“That bastard, ……, ……did it.”

“Huh?”

He didn’t hear it clearly. His voice was too low, and he trembled and ground his teeth in the middle, making it hard to understand.

What did he say? When Jeong Taeui asked again, Christoph’s eyes grew redder and redder. Jeong Taeui, who had leaned slightly towards Christoph, now moved further away.

Ah. Dangerous. Dangerous. His usually pale, expressionless face was flushed with such a vivid peach color that he looked pretty. No, he knew that his looks were unparalleled, but since it wasn’t his type, he just let it be, but if he wasn’t careful, he might find him cute or his preferences might change.

No, no.

Jeong Taeui patted his chest, trying to regain his composure, coughed a couple of times, and then carefully asked again.

“What’s wrong? What did Richard do?”

“That bastard, …….”

Christoph opened his mouth to say “That bastard,” then gritted his teeth again and couldn’t continue for a while. His eyes grew even shinier, as if he was really about to cry. Out of frustration and injustice.

The moment Jeong Taeui’s heart began to throb anxiously, Christoph suddenly cried out in a low, squeezed voice.

“That bastard…… committed sodomy. ……On me.”

Gasp……, Jeong Taeui inhaled sharply.

His heart felt like it plummeted.

“Uh, so, ……huh? So, ……?”

His tongue was stiff, and he couldn’t speak properly.

No, he doubted if he had even heard correctly in the first place.

What did he just say? If his ears weren’t crazy, he thought he said ‘sodomy’. Or perhaps he had misunderstood the meaning of ‘sodomy’ all this time. Or maybe this guy misunderstood…….

Jeong Taeui’s thoughts, which had been tangled and spinning, suddenly stopped at some point.

In front of Jeong Taeui, who was staring blankly as if his soul had left him, Christoph mumbled, glaring at his trembling fist.

“For that bastard and me to commit sodomy, ……of all people, with that bastard……!”

The reason his face, not just around his eyes but even his neck, was flushed was out of shame and anger.

Jeong Taeui stared at him, unblinking, his mind blank, then at some point, he cleared his throat and asked.

“What did Richard do to you, then?”

“That bastard, ……, ……grabbed it.”

“What?”

“He grabbed my, my genitals! He, he touched that area too!”

The thought that his flawlessly white face, flushed like a peach, was an exquisite sight briefly crossed his mind, but more than that, Jeong Taeui quickly raised his hand, seeing the blue eyes that had finally begun to waver.

“No, wait, wait, calm down first……. Other than that?”

No, in fact, that in itself was shocking. Touching someone else’s genitals is something that hardly happens unless there are unusual circumstances. If Richard had pulled or grabbed it to attack his private parts, even if somewhat cowardly, that would be one thing, but if he just ‘grabbed’ it, it was certainly hard to imagine.

But before that, Christoph’s trembling utterance of ‘sodomy’ had already delivered a massive shock, so this story didn’t feel particularly surprising.

“Other than that……? Other than that, what?”

Christoph looked at Jeong Taeui suspiciously for a moment, then suddenly widened his eyes as if he had received a great shock and shook his head violently.

“I, I didn’t touch him! I didn’t touch that bastard’s thing! You don’t mean I would……!”

“No, I’m not saying you touched him…….”

Jeong Taeui quickly waved his hand.

Suddenly, cold sweat broke out.

He didn’t know where to start or what to say. The situation was so unclear that he couldn’t open his mouth.

But one thing was clear.

“I don’t know how he touched that part, but I definitely don’t think it was sodomy…….”

Jeong Taeui mumbled in a voice almost to himself, wiping the sweat from the back of his hand. However, Christoph, somehow understanding his words, glared at Jeong Taeui with burning eyes.

“You, you’re saying I, of all people, committed sodomy with that perverted bastard, and you’re talking so casually as if it’s not your business?! Wouldn’t you be horrified if you had sex with someone you find unpleasant just by touching them?!”

He couldn’t meet those eyes, which looked as if he had been betrayed by a close friend. Jeong Taeui himself didn’t know where the misunderstanding began.

“No, it’s not like that, no, I mean, it would feel a bit dirty, but still, that’s…….”

If he had said, ‘That guy touched my genitals,’ he would have readily agreed, saying, ‘That’s really disgusting, what a weird guy.’ But when he said, ‘I committed sodomy with that guy,’ he had nothing to say.

……No, wait.

A thought suddenly flashed through Jeong Taeui’s mind, and his heart suddenly felt heavy. Slowly, very slowly, he turned his gaze to Christoph and opened his mouth with a trembling heart.

“Christoph. ……Then, did you and I also……, do ‘that’?”

Recalling the time Christoph had fondled Jeong Taeui’s private parts, Jeong Taeui cautiously asked, and Christoph paused.

His flushed face, trembling with sky-high anger, suddenly lost its expression as if caught off guard, then he glanced at Jeong Taeui’s expression and hesitated slightly.

“Well……. ……. ……No, still, back then you touched me over my clothes, not directly……. No, of course, well…….”

Suddenly, his head spun, and his vision went black.

Jeong Taeui slumped back in the chair and pressed his thumb gently against his throbbing temple.

He had suspected it, but it seemed that in this guy’s mind, he had already had an intimate relationship with Jeong Taeui.

No. Absolutely not. Definitely not that.

He wanted to hold Christoph and explain everything thoroughly, but he didn’t know where or how to begin, so Jeong Taeui pondered for a moment and decided to avoid the issue for now.

“Th-that’s right……, anyway, so you mean you did ‘that’ with Richard. But how did it happen…….”

As Jeong Taeui rubbed his temples and forehead, speaking haltingly, Christoph suddenly declared with a serious face, as if he had thought of something.

“Let me tell you, even though I somehow ended up doing that sodomy with that bastard, it’s different from you. It’s completely different from what I did with you.”

Facing Christoph, who was flushed crimson and looking at him seriously with anxious, teary eyes, Jeong Taeui could only give a short answer, “Uh, yeah, okay.” No, I mean, let’s drop this topic now…….

“Aha……. Did that happen? I didn’t know that.”

But then.

Before Jeong Taeui could even open his mouth, a low, slow voice from behind him chillingly pierced his ears.

“……!!”

Even if cold water were poured on his heart, it wouldn’t have been more shocking.

Behind Jeong Taeui, who was frozen like ice and couldn’t move, the man’s presence, stepping on the carpet, approached step by step.

Christoph looked over Jeong Taeui’s shoulder at the man with a displeased expression.

“What? How long have you been eavesdropping?”

“Eavesdropping? Let me tell you, I wasn’t the one who didn’t close the door properly. I wasn’t the one who got so angry that my voice could be heard outside the door, and it’s not my fault you were so distracted you couldn’t even hear my footsteps.”

The relaxed voice approached with his presence. Soon, that presence stopped right behind Jeong Taeui. A gloved hand lightly rested on his shoulder.

“If I had known you were having such an interesting conversation, I would have come sooner.”

The leather glove gently stroking his shoulder was cold like a snake.

Jeong Taeui slowly, hesitantly, raised his head.

Behind him stood the owner of the voice, Ilay Riegrow. And at the doorway, about ten steps away from them, a man stood, rolling his eyes in confusion, as if he had come for something.